Meet My Parents (Proof of Concept)
by darkbeetlebot
Summary: Homura has actually managed to beat Walpurgis. In this post-happy-as-it-could-be-ending world, Homura has managed to bag the girl and set herself up for a much better life. All seems like it's going to be okay. And then she gets a letter from her long-lost mother. Drama ensues. This is a proof of concept, not a complete story. It may become a complete story in the future.


It's over. Walpurgisnacht has passed. The city is saved, but not without sacrifice.

Although they would have survived the battle, had Madoka contracted, that was clearly not an option. Thus, three of the four magical girls who fought the witch died. Homura, being the only one left, was also the one who was tasked with comforting the girl in her darkest hour. Just as she had done so long ago. It was merely returning a favor, if nothing else. But of course, it wasn't nothing else. After Madoka accepted the sacrifices her friends made to assure her happiness, Homura made good on her intentions and gave her more than just comfort. She gave her love.

The two started dating around the end of Spring, just in time for summer vacation. However, what should have been a simple and fun time goofing off and smothering each other in hugs and kisses turned into a real-life TV drama one morning, as Homura was checking her mail.

"Let's see..." she says, sifting through the envelopes while sipping what looks like black coffee, but is in fact sweetened. "Ad, ad, ad, ad..." she throws the spam into a pile. "...hospital..." she throws it into a pre-existing pile from the past couple months. "...a letter from whoever Hanako Akemi is..." she throws it into the spam pile.

"..." she pauses on the last one which is more spam when she realizes what she just threw away. "What?" she says. In seconds, she's sifting through the spam to fish out the letter. "Hanako...Akemi!?" she yells. "No..." she says in disbelief as she opens it with a combat knife. And so, the letter reads...

"It's been a long time. Almost 15 years. You must almost be a full-grown woman by now, right? I haven't seen your face in so long, but it is forever etched into my mind from the day I had to give you up. I'm sorry for not being there for you, and for suddenly finding you again after all this time, but I needed to see you. To know that you were okay. Not a single day has gone by that I haven't worried."

"I know all about what you had to endure, and I'm sorry for that, too. It took a long time to find you again, so I wanted to see you myself. I hope this is enough of a warning for you to prepare, because we're going to visit you next Saturday. I have a wonderful surprise and can't wait, but you must need time to prepare. Please welcome us warmly. Despite everything, I still love you, Homura."

"Your mother, Hanako"

She can barely even believe what she just read. Just to make sure she isn't dreaming, she punches herself in the face to no effect. After recovering from that, she gets angry, "Are you kidding me!? 14 years and she comes running back to me NOW!?

She starts yelling as if her mother is already there, "Why couldn't you do this half a decade ago when I was in the hospital!? When I still wanted parents! Why now!?"

She kicks the wall and nearly puts a hole through it, "Dammit! Everything was going fine! Why now, when I finally have what I wanted for the past 90 time loops? Does fate just hate me, or something? God, it's out of the frying pan and into the fryer AGAIN! Story of my life!"

She sighs and finally settles down on her bed. After a few minutes of breathing, she finally accepts it, "She's coming. To see me. My real mother. I..." She wants to say that she can't believe it, but she would be lying to herself and knows it. "...I need to tell Madoka." Of course her newly saved girlfriend was top-priority. Especially for comfort, right now, though Junko would be better for advice. Then she glances at the calender. Thursday. The letter is dated for last week. They're literally coming the day after tomorrow.

Homura groans in frustration, but still has to act. She gets up and immediately heads to the Kaname house.

* * *

_~~~doodlydoodlydoooo scene transition dooodlydooooooo~~~_

* * *

Homura ended up explaining everything to Madoka and her mother in a slight panic. Or at least, it ended that way. She showed them the letter and explained a few things about her past that had remained a mystery thus far. Their reactions are similar.

"So she's really coming, huh?" Madoka says. "Are you sure you aren't dreaming?"

"Yes."

"Did you pinch yourself?"

"I _punched_ myself, Madoka. I _think _this is real." Homura sasses at her.

Madoka backs up, "Well _sorry_, I just wanted to help!"

Before a fight can break out, Homura pinches her nose and sighs, "I... I know. I'm just stressed out."

They both hug. Meanwhile, Junko finishes reading the letter and adds her own piece, "Go ahead and meet her."

Homura looks vaguely surprised.

Junko continues, "She may have abandoned you, but everyone has their reasons. Maybe this is your chance for closure. You don't have to welcome her with open arms, just whatever you feel is necessary."

Homura looks down, pondering, "...I guess so. I still don't fully trust this, but you haven't steered us wrong."

Madoka jumps in, "But what if it goes well?"

"Eh?" Homura grunts.

"Like..." Madoka puts together a picture "...What if you end up really liking her and want her to sort of stay?"

"Why would I do that?"

Madoka pouts, "Homura, it's a _hypothetical_! Just listen!"

Homura smiles fondly and rolls her eyes.

Madoka continues, "So, what about...us? In that situation, would it be a problem?"

Homura chuckles, "Oh, is _that_ what you're worried about? Come on," she closes the gap between them and gives her a tight but gentle hug "...no matter what, I'm always going to choose you over everything else. I love you."

She kisses her on the cheek, which flusters both of them. "I love you, too." Madoka replies a bit late, but still with an awfully cute smirk.

Junko ends up smiling at the sight as well, but has to break it up there, "Hey, go do that in private. Here, take the letter, too."

Homura takes it while Madoka gets even more flustered over being commented on. "Well..." she breathes deeply "...time to prepare, I guess. Need to think about what I'm going to say."

"Okay." Madoka says, even if she wasn't actually the one being addressed.

Homura can sense her unease. "Hey." she says. "What's wrong?"

Madoka doesn't say anything in particular, but instead inches closer to Homura and nudges her arm.

"Oh." she gets it. "Okay, but just for this evening. I really do need to think about this." She pats Madoka on the head as she grins really wide and tries to hide it in vain. They head upstairs for some private time, if you know what I mean, wink wink.

* * *

_~~~doodlydoodlydoooo scene transition dooodlydooooooo~~~_

* * *

Soon enough, the day came. And it could have definitely come too soon. And it did. Homura had spent the past 40 hours messing around with her girlfriend instead of actually doing anything productive and ended up with no conversation material. She supposed that it would just fall into place naturally, but the more pressing issue is the lack of a planned dinner. How can you have guests without food or beverages? Absolutely unthinkable, especially for a self-proclaimed refined girl such as herself. Well, refined in the sense of being too cool for most other girls.

Anyways, it's the morning of the final day. Homura impatiently yet anxiously awaits at the door in her only evening gown: simple, pure black, and more like an ordinary dress than anything ornate. She deigns to put any more effort than that. Only Madoka gets to see her at her best (and worst), after all. For all she knew, this woman wouldn't even be worth the time of day when it came down to it. Nothing like putting your all in and being disappointed. As usual.

"Dammit, focus!" Homura scolds herself, beating her head on both sides. "Wish she would have said what time she would be here..."

In the end, she waited about two hours before someone rang. She spent most of that time texting frustratedly. Of course when she would open the door, it would just be the delivery guy with a package for her. No doubt it's some stupid gadget she bought on a whim one night, but that's beside the point. She waits another few hours and nearly gives up before she hears another ring. She doesn't even believe it until it happens again, and then she's all over the door.

"I'm coming!" she yells, rushing to unlink the chain lock.

And there she is. The spitting fucking image. A tall, gloomy-looking woman with even gloomier black hair in the exact shade of Homura's. Her own outfit is just a simple white dress, nothing fancy to it, but it works. Despite the wide grin on her face, she's very clearly the type who's suffered, as evidenced by her sunken features. She literally looks almost exactly like Homura but older, except a different hairstyle. Hers is parted to both sides with no bangs, but is still flowing and long.

In the midst of her analysis, Homura neglects to say a damn thing. She stands there with the door open, mouth ajar in disbelief, completely ignoring the presence of a fancily-dressed man standing beside her mother. Looks like a businessman, and an older one at that. If she looked any younger, people would probably call her a gold digger after seeing the two together.

"Homura?" the woman says, softly, almost in a whisper. Her voice is very low and soft anyways, so it's barely even audible. She has to say it again, "Homura, is that you?"

Homura shakes herself awake, "Uh, yes! And...you...uh..."

The woman grins even wider, so much that it looks like her whole head could split in two, "It's me! Your mother!"

All Homura can really do is stand there, still in shock. Idly, she welcomes them in, "Uh...come in. At the table, please."

They both come in and start oggling the tiny, dimly lit apartment. The man seems unimpressed, but Hanako looks as if she's gazing upon Wonderland itself. They both eventually sit down, and Homura across from them, where she asks, "So I'm not dreaming again, am I?"

"No," her mother reassures her "this is really happening."

More stunned silence. Homura manages to ask, "...And who is this?"

Hanako giddily introduces him, "Oh, I'm sorry, this is my new fiancee! Mr. Fujinaka; he's a very important businessman!"

Homura nods along, "Right... I guess this is the surprise you mentioned?"

She also nods, "Well, there's another. But first, I want to catch up. I-If you want to, that is."

Homura barely needs any time to answer, "Of course! I have time."

Hanako sighs, "Oh, good. I was a fraid you would be angry. I wouldn't blame you."

"No, it's fine." Homura insists despite agreeing with her.

They're about to get into a repetitive back and forth, but Hanako stops herself, "So...what has your life been like?"

With such a general question, most people would give a general answer. For Homura, all she can think about is all of the horrible shit she went through over the past ten years in the time loops, but she can't just go telling people about that. And is it really worth it to honestly tell her how bad it's been, or would making her feel guilty be undeserved?

"Boring. Better than nothing." Homura decides to say. It's half-true, and generic enough to not make her mother feel terrible. "Good enough", she thinks. She wanted to say something like, "Everything had been terrible and I want to die", but that seemed unnecessarily angsty. Madoka would probably slap her for saying that. Or hug her. Maybe both. At the same time.

Hanako hums, "Mhm. Uh...anything more...specific?"

"No." Homura bluntly refuses. She actually could only barely remember all of the time she spent in the hospital. The rest was the loops. The goddamn loops. Though, she could see that her mother wasn't exactly appeased by this answer, so she elaborates a bit more, "Well, I guess I spent a long time in the hospital. That wasn't very eventful. Then I got to go to school, here, and now things are pretty normal."

"Do you have any friends?"

Homura is caught off-guard, "A— Eh? Friends?"

Her mother nods. She could say yes, but that would lead to details. Could she reliably hide the fact that all but one of her friends are dead, and the last is more than just a friend? Bad to trust people you've just met, even if they are clearly your parents. Well, one is.

"Homura?" she calls, interrupting her inner rambling.

"Oh, right. Well, I have...one."

Suddenly, Hanako looks concerned. "Oh...well, that's good." she says in a way that somehow seems patronizing. "And what is she like?" she asks.

"She's— Wait, how do you know it's a girl?" Homura stops herself.

She hastily explains as if she did something wrong, "Well, I just assumed that your friends would be... You know. Right? My friends were all girls, after all."

It may just be internal association, but the terminology is getting too close for comfort. Homura sighs, "Okay, fine. She's the only person who has showed me any real kindness in a long time. She's...too kind. Innocent." She lets a bit of her true feelings leak, "If that's even a compliment..."

Her mother's concern is enhanced, "...Of course it's a compliment! It's good for other people, right?"

Homura just barely grits her teeth and stays completely silent in response. Luckily, she doesn't need to; her mother continues.

"I guess your life hasn't been very eventful, has it?"

Homura looks away, fighting back the urge to just blow up. It had been slowly building up over the past few minutes, along with the temptation.

"I know it must have been hard," Hanako guesses "we've both had hard lives. I know being able to do even this was asking a lot, but it's nice to see you."

That small sentiment seems to blow up and wash away the frustration. Homura closes her eyes and finds herself agreeing, despite everything, "It is. Better than nothing."

The repetition of that tiny phrase pricks Hanako's heart just a bit too much, and she looks down in something resembling shame. No telling what she's thinking. She doesn't reveal it. Instead, she changes the subject tangentially, "Anyways, the other surprise is that, well..."

Homura perks up from her previous ponderous disinterest to listen carefully. Her mother explains, "My fiancee, here, is going to be taking over as CEO for a big company soon, and to prepare for that, he needed to move here. So, we're taking up one of the penthouses downtown! Exciting, isn't it?" She seems genuinely so, at least for the thought of living in a fancy condo.

Homura stares at her with a barely raised eyebrow as if to say, "Can you get to the point?"

Hanako understands perfectly and skips there, "So, we wanted you to — at least consider — moving in with us. So we can be a family. Would you like that?"

It takes a moment for the proposition's gravity to properly set upon her. When it does, she nearly yells, "W-What!?"

"I know!" Hanako tries to quell her "I know, it's crazy. We just met and this is already happening, but I just thought it would be nice to be a family."

Homura's mind sticks to one word. The last word: "family". Her mind goes back to Madoka's parents and how wonderful they are. How they've basically been her family for some time, now. And how good every moment felt. It's certainly tempting when she thinks of it like that. She asks carefully, "And how far away is this?"

Hanako excitedly answers, "Downtown, several miles away."

Homura pinches her head, "I mean, is it in the same school district?"

Hanako stops, bewildered. She turns to the man and asks, "Is it...?"

He seems to mumble a few things to himself while checking his phone momentarily, and then answers in his fittingly deep voice, "Looks like it."

Homura hums to herself. With one worry swept away, the only thing left to consider is how far it is from the Kaname house and what the pros and cons of actually doing this are. With magic and Walpurgis' grief seed, time is really no problem, so visiting them wouldn't be much more difficult than it already is. It's not like she'd have to entirely abandon her own home, either. Plenty of people own two properties, and money is no object at the moment. They didn't say anything about adoption, so it isn't permanent. Is that even legal? Not that she cares. But if she does, what could happen? This is the woman who abandoned her, after all. Her and some guy who isn't even her real father. Does she really care or is she treating this like some sort of game? Does she actually want to be a mother or just reap the benefits of the job? And besides that, she's a bit late. At 14, Homura won't be a kid much longer. Should have came by 4 years ago. And what kind of person is she? These two are practically strangers.

Then again, so was Madoka. And all of the others. They turned out fine. Neglect and abuse aren't statistically common, so it's not very feasible to worry about. This is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A life-changing one, at that. If it's bad, she could just leave. If it's good, she could finally get one of the things she's always wanted. Not some nun, not a surrogate, not a nurse, but a real mother. Even this strange man could end up being a pretty good father, or at least not a terrible one. Again, statistics are in her favor. In the end, she is forced to summarize that despite the inherent danger, the potential is too much to ignore.

"I'll try." Homura answers, though still seeming uncertain.

Her mother is overjoyed. Clearly. But she doesn't show it too much, only smiling as wide as when she first saw her. "I'm happy." she obviously states.

"But..." Homura quickly adds "...only trying. And give me some time pack up."

Hanako does a small bow, "I understand. Just tell us when you're ready." She hands over a slip of paper with what is presumably her phone number written on it.

Homura folds it up and shoves it down the chest of her gown, "I will."

Hanako backs up and stares down at her, smiling fondly and cooing, "Oooh... I can't believe this is happening." She hesitantly stretches her arms welcomingly, silently asking for a hug.

Homura hesitates for a good while, but ends up giving her at least an impersonal hug. A bit uncomfortable, but only for the very alien feeling it gives her. Her mother, meanwhile, seems to have been yearning for this for a very long time. Homura never had this sort of embrace, before. With Madoka, it can be described obviously as "loving" and "tight" and "hot". Her chest would always start pounding and give her that electric sensation. The sort of hug where you just don't want to ever let go. The kind that's almost like sex, but better. But this one is more like a word she can't quite discover. Something akin to comfort, but not quite there. It's familiar in a good way, but nostalgic. A long-forgotten thing where she can't quite remember the last time she felt that way but knows she once did.

Uncertainty, anxiety, relief, and hope all mixed into one. She calls it "Unxielope" and tells herself that's a stupid name, and not to ever actually say it.

They part shortly after that conclusion and make some awkward conversation. Hanako rambles on about what the condo looks like, then what she wants to do in the city, with Homura, and all of that. The next half hour is just her going on about trivial, mundane things that go in one ear and out the other. No matter how hard Homura tries to listen and remember, everything just seems to fall to the wayside. She realizes that she needs to process this. Processing happens during sleep. She needs to take a nap.

Homura stands up, "This has been nice, but I need to rest for today."

"Oh." Hanako says disappointedly "Well, we should get going, anyways. We have our own moving to do."

They both agree with each other. Homura escorts them out. As soon as the door is shut, she slides down and groans tiredly. It's still early, but she's already tired. Mentally, anyways. She would call Madoka and tell her how things went, but that can wait until later. She sets an alarm for a few hours from now, figuratively rips off her clothes, and collapses into bed unceremoniously for a nice evening nap. Or morning. Or afternoon. Whatever time it is. She doesn't bother remembering. Actually, she might as well sleep the rest of the day. It is summer break, after all.


End file.
